Engaged Couple Loses Wedding Gear In Huge Fire

Marlborough Condo Blaze Guts Building

A six-alarm fire that gutted units in a Marlborough condominium complex threatened to ruin an important day in the lives of a young couple set to be married.

When intense flames ripped through the roof of the Lake Williams condo complex on Monday, the fire took with it many of Toby Bourke and Heather McGuire's wedding dreams.

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The young couple lost almost all their wedding belongings,including their passports for their honeymoon and their rings. Everything for the wedding which is scheduled for this Saturday except for one important item -- Heather's wedding dress, which she had left at her mother's house for safekeeping.

"He called me about an hour ago and said, 'Hon, I think our apartments on fire,' and I said, 'You gotta be joking. All our stuff for the wedding. Everything's happening ..." McGuire said.

"A neighbor called me and said, 'Are you home?' and I said, 'No, I'm not. I'm at work.' And he said, 'You better get home. Your entire building is on fire," Bourke said.

The raging blaze forced about 50 residents from their homes, some with only the clothes on their backs.

"I live in the first floor of the building and ... I don't know ..." said one woman who hugged a small child wrapped in a pink blanket to her chest.

Giselle Santos said she lost everything but was grateful she got out with her dogs.

"The dogs were inside. Thank God I hadn't left for school yet," she said.

Firefighters were able to rescue the remaining trapped pets.

Just one tenant was overcome with emotion and was taken to the hospital, everyone else escaped unharmed.

The building is now in ruins and the cause of the fire still under investigation.

"It appeared to (start) up in that loft area while we arrived. I'm told by the inside crews that there were storage bins all in that upper area there," said Marlborough Fire Department Chief James Fortin.